


Santa Claus is Coming to Town

by tablemanners



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Mall Santa - Freeform, Oblivious, Santa Claus - Freeform, holiday au, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8949766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablemanners/pseuds/tablemanners
Summary: This is going to be 100% fluff, in which Sirius works as the Santa at the mall and pure Remus can't help but be interested in him.





	1. Here Comes Santa Claus

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Remus asked the man standing before him, doing his best to get everything sorted out with black Friday being a mere four hours away. As the co-manager of the Lion Heart mall, he had several responsibilities, and Remus was struggling to organize all of those responsibilities. The other manager, Lily Evans, was busy supervising all of the employees and making sure everything was stocked. 

“I’m Santa!” The man exclaimed, waving a large red sack and a fake beard in Remus’ face, “We’re here to set up!” 

Remus jumped at the man’s enthusiasm, rather shocked. “Yes, of course,” He murmured, going down his list of names until he found “Santa Claus” and the coinciding name of the provider: “Potter Inc.” “I take it you’re… Sirius Black? Is that right?” Remus asked him, pointing the name out on his list. 

The man nodded, smiling as he sat down his large sack containing what Remus assumed was his costume. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out! And you are?” He held out a hand for Remus to shake, however Remus chose to ignore it, seeing as he was rather uncomfortable when it came to strangers.

“I’m Remus Lupin, it’s a pleasure doing business with you,” Remus replied, doing his best not to mumble. Lily always got on him for mumbling. 

“I assure you, the pleasure’s all mine,” Sirius responded, a sly smirk on his face as he leaned in closer to Remus. Was he… flirting? Remus almost laughed out loud, trying to shake the ridiculous idea out of his head. 

“Haha, uh, you can follow me, I’ll show you where you’ll be setting up,” Remus said, eyes trained on the ground to avoid him any embarrassment. 

“Oh, just let me call my partner real quick, James will be helping with the set up,” Sirius said, hopping out of the door for a split second and returning with a second man, this one with messy black hair and obnoxious glasses. The new man, James, seemed to be laughing at Sirius when he entered.

“The pleasure’s all mine? Really Sirius, you are hopeless!” James whispered to his best friend, who was currently leading him into one of the most popular malls in the area. “I thought I taught you better.”

Sirius was laughing along with him, not angry at his pal for making fun of him. “Yeah, I’d like to see you do better, Prongs.”

“Um, are you guys ready to get moving?” Remus interrupted, oblivious to the topic of their conversation. Both men straightened up, looking more aware of themselves and just a little more mature. It was impossible to take them seriously, seeing as they were clad in jeans and t-shirts, and had clearly never heard of combs. 

“Lead the way,” James said, smiling kindly. Remus tried to smile back, but it was clearly forced. He really was bad at confrontation, but there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about it. Thankfully, Lily was at their destination, ordering employees to move tables and booths out of the way for the Santa set up. If anyone was good at confrontation, it was Lily.

“Lily, these are the people in charge of the pictures with Santa,” Remus cut in meekly, however above all of the commotion, Lily didn’t hear him. “Lily?” Remus asked again, just as quiet. She finally noticed him when he poked her. 

“Oh, Remus!” She said, smiling vividly at him, bright green eyes contrasting her flowing red hair. If it weren’t for all of the noise, you could have heard James’ jaw drop.

“Good luck buddy,” Sirius chuckled as he nudged his friend, who seemed to be paralyzed. 

“What’s up?” She asked, taking a break for busting out orders and leading them all away from the scene. They settled down at a lonely table that had been shoved far away from the Santa area. Remus explained once more that the people in charge of the whole “Santa Claus” thing were here to set up. “Excellent, just in time!” She said, digging through her bag in search for their contract. “Which one of you is Potter?” She asked, still happy.

“That’d be me,” James said, raising a hand and approaching the table. Lily asked him to sign the contract once more, and he did so, but not before trying to hit on the redhead. “So, uh, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” He asked, making Sirius cringe. Honestly, what could be worse than that?

“Excuse me?” Lily asked, her smile evaporating instantly. A glare replaced the missing smile.

“Oh, I, um… nothing, haha….” James frantically reached for the pen and paper from Lily, scrawling a signature down as he began to turn beet red. Sirius tried to comfort his friend, but James’ confidence seemed to have been broken.

Once the two of them where outside of the mall, fetching the set-up from their trailer, James began to have one of his weekly mental meltdowns. “What was I thinking Sirius? How could I say something so lame?” James asked, lugging the giant red chair out of the trailer. Sirius shrugged, holding back laughter.

“I didn’t do so well with Mr. Lupin either, but I still have hope,” Sirius told him, helping him carry the chair.

“Okay, but Remus seems nice. A little shy, yes, but did he look like he was about to kill you when you hit on him?” James countered, defeat still encompassing him. “I don’t know if Remus even registered he was being hit on!” James continued, sneering at his overly confident ‘better half.’ 

“True, I guess I gotta be more obvious. Remus is really cute though, I think I’ve got a good chance--”

“You guys need help?” Remus asked, popping his head out of the door. Sirius promptly dropped his side of the chair in shock, causing James to curse loudly as he dropped the rest of the chair on his toes.

“What the Hell Sirius?” James shouted, jumping away from the fallen chair and rubbing his foot. 

“Oh, sorry,” Sirius mumbled, only to be pushed out of the way by Remus, who fell to James’ side and refused to leave until James confirmed he was alright. Sirius made eye contact with James, who was smirking at Sirius’ apparent anger. “Next time, drop it on me!” Sirius mouthed, pointing at the chair. Finally, Remus got up and ended up holding the door for them as they brought the chair in. They continued this method until everything was inside of the mall, and then began to put it together.

“Carpet first, right?” James confirmed with Sirius, kicking the heavy red mat. Sirius nodded, confirming James’ inquiry. 

“I can help with more of the set-up,” Remus said, bending over by the carpet and untying one of the ropes holding it together. Sirius was about to thank him, but got caught up in staring at Remus’ fine ass. Sirius hadn’t seen anything quite so beautiful in all his lifetime, and though he felt quite guilty for ogling at this person that he met less than an hour ago, Sirius figured it was hard to blame him for his inability to resist.

James spoke up for Sirius, thanking Remus for his aid and also crouching to untie the other end of the carpet. Finally Sirius regained himself and helped to unroll the carpet. It encompassed a large amount of space, and they had quite a bit of difficulty in getting it to lay flat. “Is there really no one else to help you guys set up?” Remus asked in disbelief, gawking at the work they still had to do after spending a half hour unraveling the carpet. 

“Sadly, yes. All of the other ‘elves’ get here tomorrow morning to work on the finishing touches, but we’re expected to get the general set-up built,” Sirius told him as he began to position one of the walls next to Santa’s chair, motioning James over to help him. James helped him to straighten the wall, then went to fetch its partner as Sirius held it up. 

“Wait, it’s still wobbling!” Remus noticed, rushing over to help Sirius keep the wall standing. Sirius was by no means a virgin, he had experienced a multitude of things that would most likely disappoint his parents (then again what wouldn’t disappoint them?), and yet despite all of this he felt like he was on fire when Remus’ hand brushed his. Silly, yes, however Sirius felt his face turn red as the incredibly adorable, pure Remus Lupin helped him lift the wall. It only lasted for a few seconds, because once it was steady Remus went to help James pull the other wall over. They connected the walls to form the front of a small, festive house with two columns supporting the roof covered in fake snow.

“Sirius, can you get the chair?” James asked, making sure the support held up the large boards. 

“Sure thing Prongs,” Sirius said, dropping the fake snow and rushing over to the large velvet chair they had almost forgotten. Once again, Remus volunteered to help, grabbing one side of the chair and shuffling over towards the center of the set-up. 

“Is prongs a nickname?” Remus asked, setting the chair down on a small, centered platform. Sirius found himself inadvertently laughing, reluctant to explain their nicknames.

James, on the other hand, was a bit too excited to spill all of details of their embarrassing friendship. “Yeah! I’m Prongs, and Sirius is Padfoot!”

“Why? I mean, is there a story behind it?” Remus asked, now very interested.

“Oh yeah, a great story!” James said, settling down in Santa’s chair and bidding Remus to come close to him, causing Sirius to glare angrily at James. “So it all started in high school. We had this weird project in psychology where we were supposed to find our ‘spirit animals,’ right? So anyway, Sirius wasn’t taking any of it seriously,” cue Sirius’ muffled chuckling in the background, “and our teacher was getting kind of mad at him. Finally, she had had enough, and decided to assign him an animal. She decided he was a black dog, which is apparently some omen of death or something? But anyway, McGonagall’s exact words were ‘You’re definitely a grim because you bring nothing but despair into my classroom,’ and it was all anyone could talk about for a month! And then for the rest of the school year I don’t think anyone called Sirius by his real name. My spirit animal was a stag, and so Sirius decided to call me prongs to make up for his new nickname, padfoot. You’ve got to understand, McGonagall is a very calm, reserved teacher, but when she decides to dish out shade, it’s monumental.” James was out of breath when he finished, clearly very involved in this tale, finding it quite hysterical. 

Remus looked amused, smiling at Sirius as he chuckled at the tale. “Were you really so bad of a student that your teacher referred to you as the omen of death?” Remus asked, eyes trained on Sirius and making him turn red again. Sirius cursed his face for portraying his every thought, but also relished in the fact that Remus was immensely oblivious to it all.

“I wasn’t the best student, but neither was James. He left out that McGonagall assigned him a Stag because he was unruly and rather hopeless, and somehow that connected?” Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at James. Remus giggled, all rosy cheeks and freckles and overwhelming adorableness. Sirius though he was going to fall over, but luckily James noticed and helped to steady him.

“Are you guys about done? I’d like to start locking up, it’s a quarter till twelve,” Lily said, the clicking of her heels echoing throughout the now silent mall. James whipped around, eyes wide as he struggled to fix his hair.

“Relax, it’s not getting any better,” Sirius whispered to James, standing up and pulling his gaze away from Remus. “Yeah, we’re done for tonight. The rest of the crew will top it off tomorrow morning,” Sirius answered, audible to the rest of them this time. “Thanks for having us.”

Lily smiled sweetly at Sirius and Remus, making sure to ignore James. “Thanks for your hard work, I’ll see you tomorrow at four thirty AM sharp,” she reminded them. Remus still had the trace of a smile on his face, and Lily’s heart warmed at that. Now more than ever, it seemed rare to catch him smiling. She was grateful he was enjoying himself, and that these men seemed to be nice to her friend. With that, she turned to James, thanking him as well and deciding to forgive him for his cheesy pickup line. “Remus, would you help me finalize these numbers before you leave?” She asked, gesturing towards her clipboard.

“Yeah, sure thing Lily,” Remus said, jumping up from his spot and waving bye to Sirius and James. He didn’t notice the wistful smile Sirius gave him, and Sirius rolled his eyes in disappointment once Remus was gone.

As soon as Lily had Remus in his office, she began to interrogate him. “So?” She asked excitedly, “Do you like him?”

“Huh?” Remus asked in surprise, glancing down at the numbers he had been working on calculating. “I’m sorry, who?”

“Oh my goodness, how could you not notice?” Lily sighed, slouching down in her spinning chair and exhaling loudly in disappointment. “That dude, Sirius? He was infatuated with you, and he’s not bad looking either! Did he seem nice? Do you like him???”

Remus felt his face heat up, looking away from Lily quickly as he began to stutter out nonsense in his defense. “Um, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, that James guy seemed really into you, and you didn’t knock him out! What’s up with that?”

Lily rolled her eyes, chuckling. “Oh my goodness, you like him, I can’t believe it!”

“What? I never said that!” Remus cried out, dropping his pencil and trying to explain himself. Alas, it was too late to sway Lily’s mind, she had already decided she was going to help her best friend get a boyfriend.


	2. Must Be Santa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Christmas shenanigans take place as Remus and Sirius get to know each other, all while avoiding the obvious question of who likes who.

The next morning, Remus couldn’t help obsessing over what Lily had said the night before. She claimed that Sirius seemed to have a thing for him, which sounded ridiculous to Remus, however he still felt rather self-conscious about it. He found himself spending more time than usual picking out his favorite button up shirt and combing his hair, and he noticed that he had checked his appearance in the mirror at least ten times. Though Remus was feeling nervous, he was surprised to notice that he was also excited to see Sirius again. When he arrived at the mall that morning, there were at least a dozen people now working on finalizing Santa’s booth. People had set up cameras and added more snow, glitter, and details on the building they had set up the night before. It was looking very good.

Lily walked up behind him, looking well rested even though there was no way she was able to get a full eight hours. They were both at the mall about five hours ago. “Looking good, isn’t it?” She asked, smiling towards the set-up. 

“Yeah, sure is. Much better than that company that came in last year, that was ghastly,” Remus said, earning him a chuckle from Lily. Her eyes continued to scan the premises until she locked onto what she was looking for.

“He’s looking good as well, Remus. Maybe you should go say good morning to Sirius?” She suggested, giving him a playful nudge. Remus had to admit, Lily was right. It looked like Sirius had finally discovered combs, and now that his scraggly black hair was actually orderly, it looked quite beautiful. He was clad in sweatpants though, which didn’t necessarily make for a great look, but Remus dismissed that fact quickly as he stalked away from his snickering friend and joined Sirius.

“Hey,” He said softly, waving to the other man. Sirius smiled back, setting down his breakfast and greeting Remus back. “It’s looking good,” Remus said, gesturing towards Santa’s booth.

“That’s good to know,” Sirius said jokingly, smiling rather adoringly at Remus. Unlike the night before, Remus found that he was beginning to notice the long glances and smiles Sirius was giving him, and began to wonder if Lily was right. “Did you get any sleep last night?” Sirius asked him, breaking his gaze and trying to focus on something that wasn’t Remus’ face. 

“Not a lot,” Remus confessed, rubbing his eyes to try to hide some of his exhaustion. Truth be told, Remus hardly got any sleep because he was utterly confused with what Lily had told him. Of course, he wasn’t about to tell Sirius that he stayed up all night thinking of him.

“Your girlfriend kept you up, huh?” Sirius asked, doing his best to figure out if Remus was single and possibly interested without asking him blatantly: ‘Are you single and gay?’ Sirius prided himself in his ability to be smooth (to some extent,) especially when it came to cute guys and girls and everything in between. He was a bit of a natural flirt. 

“What?” Remus asked, shocked. He was unaware that Sirius was trying to get Intel on Remus’ romantic life, and the apparent thought that Sirius assumed he had a girlfriend was outlandish. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend, it’s nothing like that. Why, did yours keep you up?” Remus asked nervously, wondering if this was a common problem that all normal people faced. Maybe Lily had been wrong about Sirius, and he was just a really cool, nice guy.

“Heavens no!” Sirius exclaimed, shaking his head. “I don’t have a gal either,” Sirius was making the fact that he was single very obvious. I’m available and into guys! He wanted to shout, but held back. After all, he didn’t want to scare off Remus, he seemed so innocent and unsuspecting. 

“Remus!” James shouted, galloping over to the two of them frantically. “I’ve done it! I’ve figured it out!” He shoved Sirius out of his chair and sat down, pulling out a few notes he had taken in a small journal. “So Padfoot and I were talking last night, and we figured it out!” James seemed very excited, and now Sirius was smiling alongside of him, despite being pushed out of his seat.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot!” Sirius said, his eyes gleaming with genuine excitement. “We want to come up with a nickname for you!”

James was nodding, his glasses about to fall off of his face. “So, we’ve come up with a few ideas as to what your spirit animal might be after spending time with you the other night. We figured you’re very nice, hardworking, and a team player.” Remus found himself blushing from the flattery, but played it off by joining in on the excitement.

“So anyway, we were like, what’s an animal that’s good in a pack, you know? So we came up with goat, yak, or wolf. Clearly wolf is the coolest, so we decided to go with that,” Sirius was making vivid hand gestures pertaining to absolutely nothing that was coming out of his mouth, but James seemed to understand perfectly.

Remus was at a bit of a loss. He figured he’d be something small and meek, maybe a rabbit. But a wolf? He wasn’t confident enough to claim that his spirit animal was a wolf. “I don’t know if I’d call myself a wolf, maybe a small dog? I mean, I’m kind of a boring guy,” Remus said, butting into their conversation. Neither of the other men seemed to agree with this statement.

“Nonsense, Remus, you’re so much more than that!” Sirius said, grasping his shoulder and steering his face towards him so that Remus would look him in the eye. “You’re awesome! What’s cooler than a wolf?”

James was nodding along with Sirius, brainstorming anything remotely cooler than a wolf. “Werewolves are pretty awesome,” James finally concluded, smiling at his accomplishment. Sirius seemed to agree.

“Yeah! You think you look like an average Joe, but underneath all of that is the coolest dude ever!” Sirius said emphatically. James was still smiling when Lily came over, still a bit weary of James but excited to see Sirius and Remus interacting.

“We’ve got twenty minutes till opening, you might want to get suited up Sirius,” She said, dropping the big red bag Remus had seen the night before at Sirius’ feet.

Sirius grabbed the bag, smiling as he bid them goodbye. Remus had to admit, Sirius was rather good looking. “Hey Lily?” James began, turning towards the redhead. Though she may of forgiven him, she wasn’t all that fond of him.

“Yes, Mr. Potter?” She asked, squinting at Remus as if to ask him ‘Help get me out of this!’ James didn’t notice her plea for help, and neither did Remus, who was still watching Sirius.

“I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other night, and I was wondering if I could treat you to dinner sometime to make up for it,” James said, using all of his charm to try to sway Lily’s mind.

“I take it you’re asking me on a date?” She asked him rather coldly, refusing to make eye contact with him. James gulped, immediately knowing he had asked too soon. He should have just stuck to apologizing, but instead he went for it, making a complete fool out of himself. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to decline. I hope you understand why, Mr. Potter, after your behavior last night. I’d rather not.”

Lily left abruptly, not giving James time to say anything else. James sulked, pulling at his hair in frustration. “What’s wrong?” Remus asked, finally aware of someone else other than Sirius. James glanced up, looking rather tired.

“I’ve got bad luck with girls,” He mumbled, frustrated. 

Remus began to laugh, shaking his head in dismay. “Don’t feel bad, James. Lily is like that with everyone, she’ll warm up to you after a while. Just give her time, and be respectful.” 

James looked as though he was genuinely considering this, however anyone who knew James well enough knew he’d never be able to remain respectful for more than a few hours. “Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!” A deep voice shouted from behind them. Remus jumped into the air, his heart racing as he turned to see Sirius in a large red suit stuffed with tissue paper. Sirius held a large white wig that looked as though it could have been a good sized dog, and had deep red blush painted on his cheeks. 

“Sirius, is that you?” Remus asked, amazed and terrified at the same time. The attractive young man he had been talking with mere minutes before had evolved into something completely different. James was laughing next to Remus, patting the confused man on the back.

“That’s our Sirius, indeed. Isn’t he dashing?” Sirius began striking poses as James spoke, smirking at the two of them. 

“Where are my elves?” Sirius asked, glancing around until he spotted a few people in green and red uniforms lounging around Santa’s chair. “Ah yes, there they are. Time to greet the dream team!” Remus and James followed Sirius as he hobbled over to the rest of the gang, bellowing the same greeting he had given the two of them earlier. 

“You still need to put your wig on!” Another redheaded girl said. She was short and stout, her arms crossed as she marched over to Sirius. “The doors will be opening any minute, let me help you.”

“Molly, I’m fine, really. Sorry I wasn’t ready,” Sirius said with a chuckle, calming the shorter woman. She frowned, placing her hands on her hips.

“I feel like I’m everybody’s mother, goodness.” Molly straightened the hastily slapped on beard, ensuring that none of Sirius’ black hair was peeking out of the wig cap. “There you go, now please get seated.”

Sirius complied, jumping onto the large, posh chair and settling down. “My legs are going to be numb for the next two months,” Sirius mumbled, already counting down the days until the holiday festivities were finally done.

Remus gave Sirius and apologetic smile, shrugging. “Let me know if I can get you anything, Sirius,” He said, smiling at the Santa that claimed to be Sirius. “Here, I’ll give you my number!”

Remus typed his number into Sirius’ phone before leaving to help Lily open the doors, waving goodbye and making Sirius’ already rosy cheeks become rosier. “Score,” He whispered, smirking to himself. 

For a Black Friday, it wasn’t terribly awful. Less than fifteen fights broke out, making a new record for the mall. They sold out of several things, yes, but they were able to compensate for the customers who couldn’t find what they needed. Overall, it wasn’t awful, and they were able to leave before ten that evening. “Good work, everyone!” Lily said once the store had cleared out, “Let’s make this a wonderful Christmas shopping season! Now go home and get some rest.”

There were groans and sighs as employees locked up their stores and filed out to their vehicles, some nursing painkillers for their headaches and others heading to the closest bar. “We did it,” Remus said wistfully, lounging back on a bench, “another black Friday.” Lily nodded in agreement, too worn out to speak.

After a few minutes of silence, the two managers got up and began to make sure everything was locked up and turned off, thanking each security guard and bidding them goodnight and happy holidays. When they passes by Santa’s booth, Sirius was back to his normal clothes, rubbing his sore buttocks and folding the red suit neatly. “Goodnight Sirius,” Lily called out, her voice hoarse. “Is James still here?”

Sirius looked surprised when Lily asked him about James, but he pointed in the direction his buddy had gone. Lily gave Remus a wink and a nudge before skipping off to ‘find James,’ leaving Sirius and Remus on their own. “How did everything go, Mr. Co-Manager?” Sirius asked, lacing up his boots and patting down his hair. 

Remus allowed his shoulders to sag, rubbing his forehead with his spare hand and sighing. “Well, it wasn’t easy, but it could have been a lot worse,” Remus told him, smiling weakly. “Did the kids treat you nicely?”

Sirius shrugged, still stretching his sore limbs. “Oh, you know, win some loose some.” He had finished lacing his boots and shrugged his jacket on, taking one last look over the area before walking towards Remus. “Wanna head out together?” He asked, nodding towards the glass doors. Remus nodded, following Sirius out into the brisk weather. Though he was bundled up well, the chill still made him bristle.

“Did you and James ever figure out a nickname for me?” Remus asked, rubbing his hands together. Sirius nodded, smiling cheerfully at Remus. “Well go ahead, enlighten me,” Remus pushed, anxious to hear what they’d come up with.

“Well, we were thinking Moony, because werewolves transform on full moons and all,” Sirius told him, apparently shivering based on the waver of his voice. 

“Moony, Padfoot and Prongs…” Remus said, trying the name out. “I like it,” He said, delighted to be a part of something outside of himself. Sirius sighed in relief, his smile growing even more evident on his face. “Well, this is my car. See you tomorrow Padfoot,” Remus said, waving bye as he unlocked the driver’s side door. Sirius waved back, feeling warm on the inside despite the cold environment. That night, Remus slept like a baby. 

By the next week, Remus and Sirius had formed a schedule. Often they would eat breakfast together once they met up at the mall, and they generally shared lunch breaks together. Lily teased him about going on dates with Sirius, and yet Remus couldn’t seem to deny it. The first lunch that had together did feel a lot like a date.

It started the Monday after Black Friday, in which Remus received a text from an unknown number. It read:

Hey, this is Sirius. Was just wondering  
If you wanted to have lunch together?

Remus couldn’t explain the thrill of excitement that rushed through him when he received this text, but he made sure to show up at the Santa booth around noon. James was now dressed as Santa for Sirius’ break, and Sirius was dressed casually, with blue jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket. Remus wondered if that was really enough to keep Sirius warm, but he didn’t question it. Remus hadn’t changed, and was still in the dress pants and vest he had been wearing earlier, except he had added his his winter coat as an additional layer. “You called?” Remus asked, gesturing towards his phone. 

Sirius met Remus in the middle of the foyer, hands casually lingering on his pockets. “Sure did,” Sirius said, pointing to his own phone. “Technology, huh? Very useful.”

Remus had to agree, and soon the two began to banter on whether the integration of technology in the world made it more or less social. They had a good argument going by the time they reached the food court, where they then prioritized their time with determining just what they would be eating for lunch. “Say Remus,” Sirius murmured, interrupting his thoughts. “Do you want to eat outside of the food court? You must get tired of it.” Remus looked pleasantly surprised, quickly agreeing for something other than greasy burgers or oily, unauthentic Asian food. 

“Do you have anything in mind?” Remus asked, trying to recall what else was in the area. He couldn’t think of anything that was much different than the food court. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed to have already planned this whole encounter.

“Follow me.”

Sirius drove Remus a few blocks down the street to an old, run down looking diner with two or three other customers. “Have you ever eaten here before?” Sirius asked him as he pulled into one of the many empty parking spots. Remus shook his head, facing a loss for words. He hadn’t expected Sirius to take him to some run down joint like this, he was expecting something modern and pricy. Remus kept his mouth shut, not wanting to be accused of judging a book by it’s over. 

“A table for two please, Weasley,” Sirius shouted after barging through the front doors. A tall, skinny man with ginger hair jumped out from behind the counter, his whole face lighting up.

“Sirius! It’s good to have you here, how’s Molly?” The man asked, grabbing two menus from the countertop. He seemed a little scatterbrained, having to turn around halfway to the table in order to grab them their silverware, which he had forgotten about. 

“Really, Arthur? You see me, and you immediately ask about Molly? I thought you were planning on asking her out last week!” Sirius teased, giving Remus a childish grin as he continued to bug the ginger.

Arthur looked a bit bashful and caught off guard when Sirius brought this up. “When did I say that?” He asked, then stiffened, because he finally registered Sirius brought in somebody he didn’t recognize. “Where are my manners?” He asked in horror, dropping the menus, “I forgot to introduce myself to your date! My name’s Arthur Weasley, nice to meet you. You are?”

Remus ducked down to grab the menus, handing them to Arthur as he introduced himself. “My name’s Remus, although I don’t think I’m Sirius’… date,” Remus clarified, doing his best not to blush all while gaging Sirius for a reaction. Sirius didn’t seem to mind, disappointing Remus just a bit.

“My bad,” Arthur said, accepting the menus from Remus and then placing them at a neat, tidy table for two. “Why don’t you get seated, I’ll be back in a few to get your orders.” Arthur left them at the small table. They took their seats, and Remus began to look over the menu.

“What’s good?” Remus finally asked Sirius, breaking the silence. 

Sirius hesitated before responding, clearly thinking over all of his options. “My personal favorite is the chicken,” He said, but then quickly changed course, “the casserole is amazing though,” and then he reverted back to their chicken, “but the chicken pot pie is to die for,” and at that, Sirius continued to bite on his lip in concentration, struggling to find his favorite meal.

“I take it everything’s good, then?” Remus asked, holding back a chuckle. Sirius nodded, still examining his menu. Arthur returned as promised, and aided them in deciding their orders. In the end, Remus got the macaroni and Sirius got the chicken sandwich. While waiting for their food, they seemed to go through what felt like first date questions. Cat or dog person? Favorite color? Musicians? Movies? Sports? They must have covered every pop culture topic by the time Arthur interrupted their conversation on the importance of the Kardashian drama, placing two hot plates of food in front of them and distracting them with heavenly aromas. 

“What’s the name of this place again?” Remus asked, trying not to shovel down his food too quickly. Sirius was doing his best to hold back his laughter at Remus’ amazement.

“They call it the Leaky Cauldron, odd, huh?” Sirius said, slowly yet surely scarfing down his meal. The following weeks after Remus’ first visit to the Leaky Cauldron, he and Sirius had lunch together at least three days a week, if not more, each time growing closer and closer while still avoiding the elephant in the room. Not only did this anger Lily, it also frustrated James, so much so that he figured he had to do something about it.

“They’re practically a couple, right?” James asked Lily after their third week into this endeavor. Lily sighed, finally realizing that she could connect to James with one thing: their dumb best friends. 

“Sadly, no. None of them are confessing,” Lily and James were meeting to discuss increasing the staff at Santa’s booth, and yet ended up ranting about their two idiotic friends. “How can they not see they’re infatuated with each other?” Lily asked, tilting her head back and letting out a frustrated growl. James looked shocked at this, but understood how she felt.

“I don’t want to ruin their friendship, but honestly they’re so gay for each other it’s killing me….” James agreed softly, resting his head in his hands. Lily nodded along with his words.

“We’re not just going to sit back and let them run in circles, are we?” Lily asked him, making eye contact with James for the first time. James blinked, taken aback by how stunning yet fierce Lily’s eyes were when they were focused on something. 

“I guess not,” James concluded, not sure if he was mentally prepared for whatever endeavor this woman had planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it, another chapter! I'm planning on three chapters, but there may be four or five depending on how things play out. I don't want it to feel rushed, but at the same time I don't want it to be intricate and angsty. I want it to be simple, cute, and fluffy. One of those love at first sight things, ya know? Any who, please forgive any typos.


	3. A Holly Jolly Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus is in denial, Lily is now seriously aggravated, James is captivated and Sirius is an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm going to finish this up tomorrow. I'd planed for this to be the last chapter, but I kinda rushed and I really wanted to post something tonight, so sorry it's short. Please leave feedback! I feel like my writing has been lacking but I tried my best to make it better, so I hope there's visible improvement. The ending is a bit abrupt, but it works.

Nobody seemed ready for the arrival of the next morning. Fog swirled about the deserted streets, and harsh winds brought in snow and ice. It seemed near impossible to leave the apartment, and Remus was prepared to take the day off. Nevertheless, after calling up Lily he learned that the mall was still going to be opening, there would just be a delay. Remus sighed, glancing back out the window and the thick white blanket of snow covering the outside world. 

Eventually, the sun came out, as did the people, slowly shoveling their driveways clad in large winter coats and thick mittens. A snow plow steadily made its way along the road, clearing a single lane for any traffic needing to get elsewhere. That traffic included Remus.

He fetched his winter coat from his back closet, and wrapped a wool scarf around his neck before traversing out of his apartment. His car was parked in the next lot over, forcing Remus to trudge through the snow in order to reach it. Remus feared his car wouldn’t start at first, but cleared his window of the snow anyway. He was relieved when the engine sputtered to life, yet continued to worry his whole commute to the mall. His car didn’t begin to actually warm up until he was parked in the “manager” parking spot, shivering despite his protective gear. 

“Good morning, Remus!” A black dot in the sea of white called out, waving to him. Remus turned around, trying to make out the man calling to him. Remus could hardly make out the person underneath the boots, long coat, gloves, scarf, hat, and hood, completely covering the man except for the upper half of his face.

“Sirius?” Remus asked, walking closer to the other man. He thought Sirius nodded, but couldn’t really tell due to the scarf blocking his lower face. “You look warm!”

Sirius met Remus in the middle, pulling his scarf down to expose his jaw to the harsh weather. Part of Sirius wanted to say “You look hot!” right back at Remus, and yet he feared the result of any utterance of those words. “It’s good to be warm in weather like this,” was all Sirius said, nodding to the frozen winter tundra surrounding them. 

“Let’s head in,” Remus suggested, about to instinctively grab Sirius’ hand but pulling his hand back when he registered what hand holding would imply. Sirius registered Remus’ hand movement, but disregarded it, not wanting to give his hopes up. James and Lily watched angrily from inside the building.

“You saw that, right?” Lily asked James, squinting towards the pair of oblivious idiots. 

James didn’t want to admit he was actually spending more time looking at Lily than at their friends, so he nodded along in false agreement. “Maybe we should just confront them about it, then they’ll confess,” James suggested with a shrug, glancing back over at Lily. Today her fiery red hair was pulled back into a neat bun, complimented by a candy cane blouse and green dress pants. Where Lily got these outfits, he hadn’t a clue, but each day she had something to wear that was just as creative and festive as the last.

Lily looked befuddled at this suggestion, raising an eyebrow at James. “You honestly think that’d work?” She asked him, turning her gaze back to the two buffoons making their way closer to the front entrance. James shrugged back, not sure what she wanted to hear from him.

“It won’t work if we don’t try,” is what James finally said, pushing himself up into a standing position to go and greet Remus and Sirius. Lily joined him, now watching James with a puzzled expression on her face, trying to sort out just what went on in that head of his.

On one hand, James was a bit of a child. Just last week he got too into being Santa and accidentally threw a child off of his lap during his ‘jolly laugh,’ making the child cry and making Lily apologize frantically in the hopes that they would not be sued. On the other hand, James could also be kind and considerate. On his break, he helped an old woman find a gift for her grandson and reunited a lost little girl with her mother. On his break. Lily was trying to sort her opinion of him out in her mind. He was a bit of a jerk when they first met, but now that she knew him a little better, he wasn’t all that bad. He wasn’t ugly either, he actually looked pretty handsome when he wasn’t acting like an idiot or dressed up as Santa. Nevertheless, Lily made sure to keep her distance.

They met up with Remus and Sirius at the front door, admonishing them for taking so long, and then laughing together at something ridiculous Sirius said. “All joking aside, we’d better make sure everyone’s ready. We’ve got less than half an hour until opening, and while I’d like to hope we won’t be too busy due to the weather, you should never underestimate Christmas shoppers.” Lily reigned the group back in, sending them each to different locations to check on the progress of the other shops. 

Lily was right when she said not to underestimate Christmas shoppers. By mid-day, they were just as busy as any normal day of Christmas shopping. By then, Christmas was just a week or two away. 

Remus and Sirius weren’t able to have lunch together due to all of the roads that had been shut down; they agreed to skip for that day. Remus did find himself missing the other man’s company, but ended up eating with Lily down at the food court. 

Lily was happy to have lunch with Remus, after all it had been awhile since they were able to just sit down and talk. “So Remus,” she began, gnawing on a fry, “How have you been of late?”

“A lot better, actually,” Remus answered through a sheepish grin, his mind drifting towards a certain someone making his days that much brighter. Lily raised an eyebrow, smirking to herself.

“That’s good to hear,” she said simply, honestly incredibly relieved that Remus was feeling better. Remus had had a fallout with his family a few months ago after he decided to come out, and this was going to be his first Christmas not going home. Lily had been very worried about him, even more so now that Christmas was closer.

“You and James seem close,” Remus cut it, interrupting her thoughts and making her jump in surprise.

“What?” She laughed, tucking a loose strand of red hair behind her hear. “I, uh, don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily trailed off, giving Remus a confused glance. 

Remus frowned at her response, confused. “You still don’t like him?” He asked worriedly, “Sirius acts like James really likes you.” 

Lily silently thanked Remus for giving her a gateway out of that topic. “Sirius, huh? You seem to spending a lot of time with him,” Lily winking, ensuring Remus got her point.

“Yeah, he seems like a cool guy,” Remus admitted bashfully, blushing a little. Lily was ready to flip the table at that, but restrained herself. 

“Ah,” she said softly, observing Remus’ expression as he talked about Sirius, “You know…” she mumbled, stirring her coffee slowly, “I do believe he likes you.” Remus didn’t look near as startled as Lily had been when Remus brought up James, instead he looked rather sad.

“Nah, I don’t think so. He’s just nice,” Remus assured her, a downcast look on his face. Lily sighed, looking every bit as sad as her friend.

“So you do like him?” Lily asked, wanting to confirm Remus’ feeling before meeting back up with James.

“Like him?” Remus asked mournfully, “I think I may love him.”

They finished their meal in silence, side from the few small bits of conversation Lily threw in here and there. Remus seemed sad about Sirius, but at the same time this was the happiest she had seen him in a long time. Lily was conflicted. “James, I think I know what to do,” Lily told him later that evening, more determined than ever.

“What do you have in mind?” James asked, leaning back in his chair in order to see her face as she spoke. 

“I’m going to throw a Christmas party, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Remus got the email that evening once he returned home, reading it over several times. It said Lily was hosting a Christmas Party for the mall staff that Friday, and to bring desserts if possible. Remus was caught off guard—Lily had never hosted a Christmas party before, and he wasn’t even sure if she celebrated Christmas. Apparently she did, and he was invited. It continued to snow throughout the week, however it was manageable. Remus and Sirius had their normal lunches together, and the week passed by uneventfully. Friday came upon them quickly.

“What time is the party, Lily?” Remus called Lily Friday morning, just to confirm he had the right time. Lily told him that it started at 6:00, but he could show up at any time. The mall was closed that Friday in celebration of a local Holiday honoring their veterans, several of whom were still alive and parading around the town. Remus had yet to find a dessert to bring, but he was sure he would come up with something. After glancing out his window, he saw the snow was the worst it had been that week. Not wanting to head out just yet, Remus searched through his cabinets, attempting to find something edible or possibly ingredients. He had some flour, but no sugar, however he also had eggs, milk, and cocoa. He figured he could substitute the sugar with extra cocoa, but quickly swept the idea out of his head. There was no way he could make any sort of dessert without sugar. He continued his search; once he was done looking, Remus had uncovered an old slice of pizza, some bad vegetables, a few beers, half a loaf of bread, mayo, several sodas, multiple microwavable meals and other miscellaneous items. Nothing he could bring to the party.

“I guess I’d better tread out before six,” Remus reasoned, beginning his morning routine of layering up for the harsh winds. He was dressed in his pajamas, which were covered by his winter apparel, so he figured it was no big deal. The morning went like any other work day, except for when he reached his car and turned the key. The poor vehicle made a wheezing, coughing sound; Remus had been awaiting this moment all winter. He tried once more, still hopeful. Another wheeze. He tried for twenty consecutive minutes, and still nothing.

Sirius was awoken by the buzzing noise coming from his phone. He lifted his head, bleary eyes trying to read the name flashing on his screen. He was able to make out “The Hot One,” and struggled to recall what contact that was, blinking some more and sitting up. Then he saw the picture of the contact flashing with the name, and nearly fell out of bed. “The hot one… Remus!” Sirius remembered, a smile creeping onto his tired face. He grabbed the phone and hit “Accept,” placing the phone next to his ear and saying “Hello?” with a stupid grin on his giddy face.

“Sirius, thank god!” Remus said, now huddled back up in his blanket next to his tiny heater. “I’m having car troubles, and I was wondering if you could give me a lift to the store to grab a dessert for Lily’s party?”

“Shit, that’s today?” Remus heard a gruff voice whisper. It sounded as though Sirius had just woken up, and his sleepy morning voice sent a chill down Remus’ spine. “Sure, I’ll head on over, just text me your address.” Sirius was true to his word, and arrived within fifteen minutes of Remus’ call. Remus’ buzzer alerted him of someone at the door, and he hopped up to open it. Sirius was wearing the same getup as earlier, but with earmuffs this time. “Ready to go?” He asked, peeking in Remus’ apartment.

Remus nodded, pulling on a pair of mittens and grabbing his wallet, locking the door behind him. “Thanks a lot, Sirius, you’re a lifesaver.”

Sirius chuckled, shrugged. “Nah, I have to get something as well, no sweat.” The two of them waddled out to Sirius’ car, which was still warm from Sirius’ trip over to Remus’ apartment. The two of them shared polite conversation all the way to the store, with Sirius only making a few crude jokes and awful puns. “Is it open?” Sirius asked skeptically when they pulled into a deserted parking lot.

Remus began to get out of the car anyway, assured it was not. “The gal that owns this place is a hippy, she’d never close shop because of the veterans Holiday,” Remus said, marching towards the front door. He tugged at them, and yet they didn’t move. He tried pulling, and once more, the doors didn’t budge. “Um, it should be open,” Remus huffed, glancing back to Sirius, waiting outside of the car. Sirius shrugged, walking over to join him.

“You think we should knock?” Sirius asked, peering into the dim store.

Remus sighed, turning away. “Nah, it looks like I was wrong. I’d make something, but I don’t have any sugar.” Remus continued back to the car, seating himself in the passenger side seat and sulking. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d tell Lily, but somehow he’d manager. Sirius remained in the snow, pondering over this.

After a minute in the freezing cold by himself, Sirius hopped in the car and began to drive back to Remus’ apartment without a word. Once they arrived, Sirius ran up to Remus’ apartment, leaving the other man trailing behind him in confusion. “Are you okay, Sirius? You’re acting odd,” Remus asked, eyeing him oddly.

“I think I have an idea,” Sirius replied, moving aside so that Remus could unlock his door. Remus was still baffled by Sirius’ eccentric behavior, but still opened up his apartment for the other man. Sirius immediately plunged into Remus’ kitchen and started to riffle through his cabinets, clearly looking for something. “Yes!” He exclaimed while Remus was still taking off his coat.

“What is it, Sirius?” Remus asked, joining him in the kitchen.

Sirius triumphantly held Remus’ cocoa and flour, the fridge door swung open to reveal the milk eggs, and other foods. “I’ve got it,” Sirius declared, dropping the ingredients on the counter and grabbing Remus by the shoulders, “If we combine our ingredients, we’ll be able to bake something together!”


	4. All I Want For Christmas Is You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale, hooray! They finally come clean, and it all ends happily ever after! Minimal angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very proud that I actually completed something for once! I will check over later for grammatical errors. Sorry for anything not 100% accurate, I did my best but do not have experience with some of the things in this chapter. Anyway, enjoy, and please leave feedback? What else would you like to see, or what should I continue? I may change the ending to this later, I feel like I sort of rushed the end. Or maybe I'll do a sequel? Who knows.

Remus and Sirius had gathered all of Remus’ ingredients and made their way to Sirius’ apartment. It was a sizable apartment, and looked very modern and organized. Remus had been expecting some man cave with dirty laundry covering the place, and was pleasantly surprised. Of course, he didn’t know that his presumption was actually correct and that all of the mess was hiding away in Sirius’ bedroom, but from what Remus could tell, the place was tidy. “This is a nice place,” Remus commented, gazing longingly at his soft looking sofa. Remus didn’t have any sofas in his apartment, just chairs and his bed. 

“Thanks,” Sirius said, pleased with himself. He shed off the multiple layers of coats and threw them down on his couch, urging Remus to do the same. Remus felt lighter after removing his large coat, and followed Sirius. He led Remus to his kitchen, which was a little sloppy, but not too bad. He had a few stacks of mail in the corner and the sink was piled with dirty dishes, but it could have been worse. 

Remus set the bags of ingredients down on a counter. “What have you got?” He asked, joining Sirius by a cupboard. 

Sirius yanked open a door and crouched to get a better look in the shelves, “Well, sugar for one; I’ve also got some cake mix, baking soda, canned beans, vanilla extract…” Sirius continued naming items while Remus tried to piece together their ingredients. They could use the cake mix, which would be simple, but he wasn’t sure if they had the right things to make an actual cake. They could try to make brownies. “What do you think we can do with all of this?” Sirius finally asked, turning away from the cabinet. 

“Well,” Remus began, crouching down next to Sirius, “We could always try to make a batch of brownies, or we could do layered brownies, and incorporate the cake mix? What type of cake mix is it?” Remus was a few inches away from Sirius, who was now incredibly aware of his proximity. Sirius had forgotten to actually listen to what Remus had said, rather he was staring at his lips, which couldn’t have been more than eight inches away from his own. 

“Sorry, what?” Sirius asked sheepishly, scratching his head. “I kinda zoned out.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I was asking what kind of cake mix it is,” Remus repeated, not analyzing the situation. 

“Yellow cake mix,” Sirius answered, reaching into his cabinet and pulling out a battered box, “You think we can use it?”

“Yeah, probably,” Remus answered, grabbing the cake mix and setting it next to the rest of their ingredients. “Do you wanna look up some recipes? I was thinking brownies,” Remus reminded him, gazing over their ingredients. Sirius nodded, running over to grab his phone off of the kitchen table the next room over.

“Layered brownies?” Sirius asked, confirming once more. Remus gave him a quick nod and then continue to organize their ingredients. He checked Sirius’ fridge, and he also had milk, which would be useful. “Hey Remus,” Sirius called, running back into the kitchen, “We could do something like this!” Remus handed him his phone, on a cooking website with a recipe for ‘slutty brownies.’

“I’m sorry, what? Slutty brownies?” Remus asked him skeptically, looking back down at the phone. Sirius nodded, grabbing the phone back and trying to explain. 

“They’re basically layered brownies, like you were talking about. They call for cookie dough on the bottom, Oreos in the middle, and brownie mix on top. I figured we could substitute a few things, and maybe try the cake mix on the bottom instead of the cookie dough, because I don’t have anything for that. I think I’ve got some Oreos though, it could totally work!” Sirius looked excited, and in the end Remus agreed, because he couldn’t seem to say no to the other man.

“Do you think we should make two batches so we each bring in something?” Remus asked, looking over what the recipe called for.

“Nah, we’ll just see what happens,” was Sirius’ mellow response, grabbing mixing bowls and measuring cups from the drawers. Remus combined the dry ingredients while Sirius mixed together the liquids. They worked in silence, concentrating on getting the right amount of everything and making sure everything was mixed in well. “You ready to combine them?” Sirius asked, setting his whisk down in triumph. 

“I think so,” Remus replied, looking at the brown, sweet smelling powder that would soon become brownie batter. “How does it say to combine them?”

Sirius pulled his phone back out, mumbling to himself as he read the direction. “It says to mix the dry ingredients into the others a little at a time,” Sirius answered. Remus complied, pouring a little bit of his concoction into Sirius’ and watching the other man stir the ingredients together. “More,” Sirius said once those were combined, and Remus added more. Each time, the batter got a little bit thicker and a bit more difficult to stir together. By the time Remus had poured all of the dry ingredients in, Sirius seemed to be straining, and his muscles tensed. Remus could make out Sirius’ surprisingly defined chest from underneath Sirius’ thin white t-shirt. Of course, Remus didn’t mean to look, it was inevitable. 

“Does that look good to you?” Sirius asked, letting go and nodding towards the smooth combination of ingredients. 

“Yeah, that looks great. Should we prepare the cake batter so we can put it in the pan first?” Remus asked, moving the bowl of batter aside and moving the rinse out the now empty dry ingredients bowl.

Sirius nodded, ripping open the box and reading the instruction. Once Remus was done cleaning the bowl, Sirius poured all of the cake mix in, which sent clouds of dust flying. “Oops,” He mumbled, brushing himself off. Remus was a little irritated, but couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Sirius’ reaction. “Hey, Remus, turn around,” Sirius instructed, looking a bit disheveled. Remus turned, a bit confused. “You’ve got some flour on you,” Sirius explained, brushing off Remus’ lower back, incredibly close to Remus’ butt. Remus shivered; he was a little embarrassed to have Sirius brushing flour off of him, and also a bit distraught to have Sirius’ hand so close to his butt. It was distracting.  
“There we go,” Sirius said, just as nervous as Remus from their closeness. Sirius backed away from Remus and returned his attention to the bowl, reading back over the box. “We need milk and eggs,” Sirius told him, turning the rinse off the whisk they used for the brownie batter. Remus added the milk and eggs to the batter, stirring it together once Sirius had cleaned the whisk. Sirius was rummaging through his cabinet, looking for Oreos. Luckily he found them.

“I found a good dish to cook it in,” Sirius said, pulling out a large glass pan. “Oh, wait, we have to preheat the oven!” The two of them worked efficiently together, and soon the brownies were in the oven, cooking. “Hey, they don’t smell bad,” Sirius realized, looking rather proud. “Do you cook a lot, Remus?”

Remus shrugged, looking over at Sirius. “Not really. Do you?” Sirius laughed at that question, quickly shaking his head ‘no.’ “Well, they do smell good, I hope they turn out alright.”

Sirius was entranced by Remus. He was attractive to the point of unfairness, and he had a stellar personality. Yet here he was, cooking brownies with Sirius. How did he get so lucky? “Gosh you’re beautiful,” Sirius murmured, almost too quiet for Remus to hear. Sirius immediately registered that he said that out loud, and began to laugh it off, looking away from Remus.

“Wait, what? Did you… say something?” Remus asking, leaning closer to Sirius, who was now turning away from him to go check on the brownies. “Sirius?” He asked, jumping up to follow him.

“Oh, Remus, I think they’re ready!” Sirius said rather awkwardly, grabbing the oven mitts and pulling the brownies out of the oven. The aroma filled the room, distracting Remus from what he was going to ask Sirius. “Here, let’s cut them,” Sirius said, continuing to take charge and change the pace of the conversation. He felt like such an idiot for letting that slip, but didn’t want to screw up his friendship with Remus.

The party came sooner than expected, and in the end they were several hours late. Sirius drove Remus with their dessert to Lily’s front door. “We’re here!” He shouted, banging on the door cheerfully. Lily answered the door in a bright red party dress and a Santa hat. She has on striking red lipstick to go with the outfit, and looked drop dead gorgeous. Behind her, music was blaring and people were dancing badly, beers in hand.

“Lily, you look wonderful!” Remus said, pulling her in for a hug.

Lily hugged him back, and while leaning in next to his ear, she whispered: “Remus, what are you doing showing up with Sirius so late? Did something happen?”

Remus jumped away, his mind going back to when he and Sirius were lounging in Sirius’ apartment; to when he thought he may have heard Sirius call him beautiful. Of course, he didn’t want to say this to Lily when Sirius was standing behind them, so he frantically shook his head and shushed her. “Where should we put the desserts?” He asked her, gesturing towards the tray in Sirius’ hands.

“Follow me,” Lily said, leading them to a table stocked full of goodies and treats. “It’s so good to have you here, Remus,” Lily continued, smiling brightly, “I know ever sense you broke up with your last boyfriend you’ve been pretty lonely.” Lily made sure she said ‘broke up’ and ‘boyfriend’ loud enough for Sirius to hear, and gave Remus a little wink.

Remus felt himself blushing and turned away from Lily. “Stop interfering, nothing is going on between us!” He whisper-yelled, looking very uncomfortable.

“Oh come on, he likes you! Let me go talk to him, I’m sure of it!” Lily encouraged, turning to head towards Sirius.

Remus grabbed her arm, a pleading look on his face. “Lily, please, if he rejects me I don’t know what I’d do, please don’t tell him!” 

“But he likes you!” She assured him, prying his hand off of her, “I’ll be quick.”

“No!” Remus hollered, a bit louder than he wanted to. Several faces turned towards him, and he noticed his breathing quicken and his heart rate accelerate. “Um, uh,” he mumbled, looking down and trying to block out the stares, “Sorry, I mean, um, excuse me….” With that, Remus grabbed a beer and stalked away, wiping tears off of his cheeks as he tried to calm himself. 

“Ah shit,” Lily mumbled, “I went too far.” Sirius hadn’t seen Remus stomp away, and asked Lily what had happened. She shrugged, leaning back against the wall. “I think I upset him,” she mumbled, running a hand through her hair. “Could you go find him and tell him I’m sorry? He’ll know what you’re talking about.”

Sirius ran off into the crowd to find Remus. He was worried and confused. Why was Remus mad? He hoped it wasn’t because Remus thought Sirius was trying to come onto him when he called him beautiful, he just couldn’t help it. On the other side of the room, James encountered a rather tired looking Lily. “Hey, are you okay?” He asked gently, nudging her shoulder.

Lily shrugged, feeling quite pathetic. She was doing her best to hold back tears, but the overwhelming feeling of guilt welled up inside of her. She had been trying so hard to make her friend happy, without considering everybody else’s feelings. Even if they were meant to be, it wasn’t up to her to push it. “It’s nothing, I’m just… reflecting,” she answered after a long, drawn out silence between the two of them.

James had never seen this side of Lily. She was always incredibly confident and impenetrable, and now she was huddled away, hiding in a corner, helplessly lonely. And there was nothing he could do to help her. “Lily, are you sure? If you need anything, all you have to do is ask,” James continued, hoping he wasn’t overstepping his boundaries. Lily’s heart softened. This was the genuine kindness she had seen earlier. James wasn’t asking for anything in return, and he had no ulterior motives. After all, at this point Lily was a bit of a mess, not quite as put together as her usual, beautiful self. Yet James didn’t care.

With a surge of confidence, Lily grabbed James’ collar and pulled him into a kiss. Not a harsh one, but a soft, tentative kiss; eyes squeezed shut along with a warm embrace. James gasped, but found himself sinking into the kiss, feeling unimaginably euphoric. After a few seconds, they broke apart. James searched Lily’s eyes for some kind of answer, but she looked just as lost and confused as him. “Why?” He asked, his voice hardly audible.

Lily opened her mouth as if to speak, and then closed it. She thought for a moment, then looked back towards James. “I really can’t say,” She muttered. And then they kissed again. And again.

After what felt like an eternity of searching, Sirius found Remus sulking in a restroom, downing his beer. “Remus!” He said, rushing over to his friend. “Is everything okay? Lily told me to tell you that she wanted to apologize; what’s wrong? We just got here!”

Remus looked up wearily, setting down his beer. He was a little tipsy; his vision was foggy and his head was clouded, and yet one thing was clear: Sirius. “What are you doing here?” He slurred, knocking over the empty can when he turned. He jolted, looking rather alarmed. He was breathing frantically. In, out, in, out, in, out.

“I was worried about you, I wanted to make sure you were okay,” Sirius said, reaching towards Remus. He looked alarmed, and his eyes were red as if he had been crying. “Remus, are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.”

Remus was trying to calm down from his incident with Lily, and was hardly listening to what Sirius was asking. He felt weak, lost, and helpless, and his heart would not slow down. By then, he was gasping for breath. All of those faces, looking at him, judging him. In, out, in, out, in, out. Repeat.

“Remus!” Sirius cried out, his worry growing exponentially. “Remus, do you have a history of panic attacks?” He asked, speaking slowly and gently, trying to calm himself down as well. If he was riled up, he would not be able to help Remus at all. “Remus, do you hear me?”

Remus was trying to focus on him, but was so lost in his mind. His anxiety was killing him, and he felt like he’d snapped. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Remus mumbled, feeling the tears well up in his eyes. No, he thought, please not now, not in front of Sirius.

“Do you have any medication?” Sirius asked, massaging Remus’ shoulders and using the same slow voice to calm him.

Remus was shaking his head, regaining his breath, “Shouldn’t have any… with beer…” he reminded Sirius, nodding to his empty can.

“Right,” Sirius mumbled. “Don’t worry, everything is all right, you’re not in any danger,” Sirius tried, doing his best to handle the situation. He had no idea if he was doing the right thing. 

Remus laughed, catching his breath. “You’re wrong,” Remus mumbled, leaning his head back. “Nothing’s all right.”

“Remus, if you tell me what’s wrong, I can help,” Sirius ensured him, feeling pleased when Remus’ breath began to return to normal. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m so sorry,” Remus said again, pushing Sirius away and breathing in once more, steadying his breath. “I shouldn’t be bothering you. It’s just that sometimes I feel like… like no one loves me, you know? And then there’s all of this pressure to find someone, but no one is looking for you, and it’s so… stressful. I just snapped, sorry you had to see that. I’m fine, promise.”

Sirius felt his heart drop. “But Remus, I love you,” he said softly, smiling. Then Remus’ eyes widened, and Sirius realized he did it again. He did something stupid. He ruined everything. “Wait, I mean… I didn’t mean—well, I did mean—I mean, uh,” Sirius was uttering absolute nonsense, fear encompassing all of him as Remus stared at him in what he perceived to be horror. “Shit,” Sirius finally said, backing away from Remus. Sirius didn’t want to leave him after an episode like that, but Remus had regained his composure, and Sirius was losing his. He barged out of the bathroom, leaving Remus behind and racing to find Lily, or James, or somebody.

Sirius ran blindly into both James and Lily, clinging to each other and smiling goofily. They let go of each other in surprise when they saw Sirius, jaws dropping. “Sirius, hey, we have something to tell you,” James began, approaching his friend. Something seemed off about Sirius.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great,” Sirius said, congratulating his pal, “Sorry, I feel sick,” he continued, hobbling over to the nearest trashcan. “Could one of you guys drive Remus home

“Sirius, did something happen?” Lily asked, joining him next to the trash can. Sirius looked like he was going to say something, however whatever he planned to say was interrupted by the vomit welling up in his throat. Lily jumped out of the way when Sirius began coughing up his lunch, his skin turning a pale, almost greenish color. 

“Padfoot!” James exclaimed, rushing over to his long time buddy. “Aw man, you really are feeling bad, aren’t you?” James asked, holding Sirius’ hair back as he continued to retch. “Lily, go get us some napkins, would you?” James asked, rubbing Sirius’ back. Lily ran off and returned in what felt like seconds with a big wad of paper towels. 

“Here you go,” she said, handing some to James. Sirius had finished up, and James began to wipe the spit off of Sirius’ jacket. “Did you have anything to drink?” Lily asked. Sirius shook his head ‘no.’ Lily cast a worried glance at James, shrugging. “You’d better take the next few days of work off. Don’t come back until Monday at the earliest. I’ll take Remus home, don’t worry.” Sirius wanted to feel comforted, but he feared his next meeting with Remus.

“I’m going to go,” Sirius said, pushing himself up and grabbing some water to rinse the taste out of his mouth.

“You sure you’re good to drive?” James asked, willing to give Sirius a lift.

“Trust me, I’m fine,” Sirius replied, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “I’m fine,” He said once more, this time directed towards himself.

Remus emerged from the bathroom sometime later, when the party was finally wrapping up. Remus was confused, tipsy, and tired. Not a very good combination. “Hey Remus!” Lily called, rushing over to him, “Sirius left early, he was sick. Is everything alright? I’m really sorry about what I said Remus. Oh, I’m also giving you a ride home,” Lily said, her sentences running together into a confusing blob of something. Remus squinted.

“He said… he loved me,” Remus mumbled, clinging to Lily for support.

“Hmm, did you say something Remus?” She asked, turning towards the faint utterance. Remus shook his head ‘no,’ following Lily to her car. That night, Remus didn’t get any sleep. He was too busy mulling over the events of that evening. It had been a bit of a disaster, yes, but Sirius loved him. When Remus realized he wouldn’t be at work for the next few days, he felt a small piece of him die on the inside. He tried calling, texting, emailing; nothing worked when he tried to contact Sirius.

Remus sulked on his way to and from work, missing the other man and longing to talk to him about what happened. Monday came, and Remus entered the mall once more. Sirius was nowhere to be seen. “Have you heard from Sirius at all?” Remus asked James at breakfast. James tilted his head, trying to figure out if Remus was joking.

“What, you didn’t see him? He’s here today, working his shift as Santa.” James told him this warily, unsure if Sirius was trying to avoid Remus or not.

“Excuse me,” Remus said frantically, ditching his breakfast and practically running to the Santa booth. It wasn’t very busy in the morning, so there wasn’t much of a line. Remus peered in and saw Santa, and when he looked closer, he recognized Sirius’ eyes. Sirius noticed Remus too, because their eyes met and Sirius looked fearful. “Sirius!” Remus found himself calling, pushing through the short line of annoyed mothers and snotty children.

Sirius half stood up, unsure if he should flee. “Remus, if this is about the other night, I’m sorry,” Sirius said slowly, rising completely out of his chair and ready to run. After all, Remus wasn’t slowing down and was going to collide with him at any minute.

“You idiot, you’d better be sorry!” Remus laughed as he plunged into Sirius and knocked him back into his chair. Remus, yanked down Sirius’ wig and beard, causing a few children to gasp. Remus leaned down and placed a quick kiss on Sirius’ lips, bashfully pulling away as a bright red blush swelled through his cheeks, “I love you too!”

Sirius stared at him in shock for a second, looking quite hilarious with his wig and beard falling off while his fake blush was replaced with a real one. “Oh my gosh…” he mumbled, smiling to himself, then to Remus, “Oh my gosh! He loves me!” Sirius announced to everyone, lifting Remus up with him and capturing him in an embrace. “He loves me! And I love him…”

The two kissed once more, this one more passionate; all the while two bystanders, one with fiery red hair and the other with a messy black mop on his head, smiled at each other knowingly.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really hoping to finish this au by Christmas, it'll most likely be very short, and I've got plenty of free time to finish it. Crossing my fingers that I'll actually complete something for once in my life. Please excuse any typos or grammatical errors, I'll read over it later.


End file.
